ROCK HILL, SC—Winthrop softball begins a stretch of playing nine of its final 12 games of the regular season the road, which starts Tuesday at Furman in its final non-conference matchup.
 
GAME SNAPSHOT
Winthrop (13-30) at Furman (20-22)
Site: Greenville, SC (Pepsi Softball Stadium)
Game 1: Tuesday, Apr. 12, 4 p.m.
Game 2: Tuesday, April 12, 6 p.m. (approx.)
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2
Live Video: Game 1 / Game 2

SERIES HISTORY VERSUS FURMAN
Winthrop and Furman have met 59 times with the Eagles holding a 31-28 advantage in the series. The two teams last met on Mar. 7, 2015 as the Paladins prevailed 3-0. Winthrop is 3-2 against Furman in the last five meetings. In the previous three meetings, the losing team has been shutout as Furman has won two straight over Winthrop by a 3-0 score and Winthrop earned a 1-0 victory before that. The last time Winthrop traveled to Furman for a doubleheader was 2006 as it fell 6-5 and 5-1. These two teams have actually met in the postseason as Winthrop defeated Furman 11-1 in the 2007 NCAA Knoxville Regional.
 
A GLANCE AT THE EAGLES
Winthrop is coming off a series loss to Coastal Carolina after capturing the opening game of the series on Friday. Winthrop's Keleigh Romine stymied the Big South's top batting team (Coastal) allowing just three hits in the series-opening win. In that victory, the Eagles had four freshmen and a total of six underclassmen in the starting lineup. Leah Young had a strong weekend as she belted her ninth home run of the season with a three-run shot to right center in the third game of the series that put the Eagles up 5-2. Shayna Covington also had a good weekend at the plate and over her last 10 games is leading the team in batting with a .379 average and is now third on the team with a .278 average on the season. Over the last nine appearances for Romine she's 1-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 26.2 innings pitched.
 
A GLANCE AT THE PALADINS
Furman is coming off a series loss as well when it dropped two of three games to Samford at home. The Paladins have a team batting average of .300 and averaging 4.9 runs per game while allowing 4.8. Furman scored no less than five runs in each of its three games with Samford. On the year Furman is 12-12 at home, where it has been for 10 straight contests. So far this season Furman is 2-3 against opponents from the Big South Conference.
 
FURMAN PLAYERS TO WATCH
HITTERS
Emma Ogburn, So, C (.361, 15 runs, 11 doubles, 21 RBI, .418 on-base percentage)
Candace Johnson, R-So., OF (.358, 31 runs, 9 doubles, 9 HR, 18 RBI)
Sieara Bishop, Sr., SS (.345, 29 runs, 11 doubles, 6 HR, 20 RBI)
PITCHERS
Emily Demonte, Fr. (7-6, 2.64 ERA, 41 SO, 15 BB, 106.0 IP)
Lindsey  Bert, So. (11-13, 130 SO, 45 BB, 143.2 IP)
   
WHAT'S ON DECK FOR THE EAGLES?
The Eagles return home for their final regular season games at Terry Field this season. Winthrop will host Charleston Southern for a three-game series starting Friday, Apr. 15 at 7 p.m. and will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Senior Day ceremonies will take place prior to the start of the 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
 
WINTHROP HOSTING BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT
The Winthrop Softball Complex and Terry Field will be the site of the 2016 Big South Conference Softball Championship May 11-14. It will be the 14^th time the tournament will be hosted by Winthrop and first time since 2013. Ticket prices will be announced at a later date. Winthrop has been to the Big South Championship game 12 times, including eight of the last 15 tournaments.